between these three men and the crime, and they came up with a theory of a satanic killing, and the evidence of that was also very weak. so what you had tamron was a problem for both sides. the defense wanted out, and they wanted the three men released, and all this state would agree to was a new trial in which the defendants would then have to take another gamble at whether they would get convicted or not, but at the same time the state realized that the case was very weak, so what they came up with was this compromise the three men maintain their innocence, and nonetheless pleaded guilty, and that is a technique that the supreme court has upheld before so based on that then the state basically said, okay, you have served enough time, you are free, so it is face-saving for both sides. the lawyers for these three men say there is no way that the state would let them walk free if they thought they really were the killers and so, basically, what you have here is both sides getting what they wanted, but the bottom line here is that after spending nearly two decades in prison, these three men are now free, and they say that the state should be expending the effort to find out who the real killer was. >> and many things to talk about here in addition to as you pointed out, if you are the family members of those three boys and you hear the details of how they were murdered, it is one of the most disturbing thins i have ever read in my life, and so you have a po en shall killer or killers out there, and this crime happening in 1993. >> and one thing, tamron, if i can interrupt. >> sure. >> the family members were not asked to approve or given veto power over this deal, and secondly, at least one of the fathers of these three boys agrees that these three men with innocent. there is not unanimous agreement, and the father of another of the boys said quote from a website he posted today said i don't like this one damn bit, but on the other hand, one of the fathers of the victims says he is for several years thought that these three were innocent. >> and real quick, pete, you have legal analysts saying they don't like, if you will, one bit this kind of a plea agreement, this kind of deal whether you maintain your innocence, but you say, you know, you plead guilty, that that as you pointed out, we have discussed the supreme court angle on this, but it has some left some unease with the legal analysts. >> that is right. it is a situation where nobody is really pleased with how this has worked out. the defense lawyers say though, that they believe very strongly that if the state really thought that these three were the killers which is what the prosecutor said today, there is no way that the state would let them free, and they insist on a new trial. >> pete williams with the breaking news on the west memphis three. thank you, pete. rebel forces in libya are gaining momentum today after taking control of a major oil refinery 30 miles out of the capital city of tripoli, and now we are learning that moammar khadafy may be preparing to flee the country with his family. richard engle is in libya and joins me with the latest update on that report that moammar khadafy could be leaving in days? >> reporter: we didn't see any evidence of that today. what we saw instead is khadafy forces fighting heavily in a town that is 30 miles outside of tripoli. the rebel forces have taken control as you mentioned of that oil refinery just on the outside of zalia, which is an important victory for them and what is more important is that they control the roads in and out of tripoli and they have cut off the supplies of most of the basic goods like food and fuel, and the situation in tripoli is getting much more dire. people are leaving the city. we saw cars heading in the opposite direction and leaving the city throughout the day, but if khadafy is planning to leave, his forces are still fighting heavily. in zawia we saw exchanges of rpgs and mortars and rockets coming in and street-to-street fighting and no evidence that he is, that we could see anyway that he is planning to leave the country. >> all right. nbc chief correspondent richard engle on the ground for us in libya. thank you, richard. and now the wall street where the stocks are bouncing back and forth between positive and negative territory today after yesterday's 420-point sell-off, and right now the dow is down 78 points, an med meant, another bank of america announces that it plans to cut 3500 jobs this quarter on top of the 2,500 jobs cut earlier in the year. "the new york times" reports that thousands of more job cuts at bank of america may be coming down the pike. joining us now is melissa frances co-anchor of cnbc's "the call" and let's talking about the dow down 78 points, melissa. >> well, it is a much calmer day in the markets certainly than what we saw yesterday. we are drifting downward and seeing a little acceleration in the selling, but overall the sentiment is different today. all three of the major indices at one point were in positive territory and overall they are more consistent and we are seeing the buying of gold up another $32, $1,852 and some selling of oil, and some are saying that the traders are exhausted and i would not blame them. >> let's talk about bank of america, the nation's largest bank and a lot of people losing their jobs there. >> well, they announced a lot of layoffs an bd bank of america h been under a ton of pressure over the last few months and we had the ceo on taking criticism of what is going on in the market, but they are coming out with a plan to be a much smaller bank and seeing the job cuts happen which they hope will bolster the stock, but they are crushed in the market. and all of the financials have, and a lot of that is a carryover from the european banks with the negative pressure, but the negative sentiment is focused on bank of america and this is a move to help investors feel better about the stock, and certainly the employees don't feel better. >> you got that right, melissa franc francis. thank you so much, melissa. >> and the white house says that and he is in martha's vineyard and we see him getting a national security briefing from the top counterterrorism adviser john brennan, but some are saying that this is not the right time for the president to take the vacation, and kristen welker joins us live from the vineyard. we are past that conversation, because he is on vacation, and bottom line, kristen, the reality is that though, because i am honestly sick of talking about, that and the president may be out and about with the family, but the white house sent that photograph out for a reason. >> that is a great point, tamron. the white house is being very careful about what images are coming out right now of the president. you saw that photo of the president with john brennan, and you are going to see that more probably and he will be briefed by the national security team and the economic team and one of the economic advisers in fact coming to the vineyard next week. they are being careful and i spoke to one historian who said it is important for the white house the show people that the president is on a working vacation, and not just on vacation. little bit earlier on "today" tamron the president was out at a bookstore with malia and sasha, his two daughters which was a little bit choreographed and we are told that he apparently bought eight books at the bookstore aalthough the bookstore owners would not tell us what he bought. and he had a meet and greet impromptu to shake hands and made supporters happy, but the people who shook his hand said it is about perception. take a listen. >> i think that a lot of your middle-class average folks come here for a vacation, and enjoy it. >> so, people certainly excited to see the president out and about. the president is now golfing. we don't expect to get any pictures of him golfing, again, tamron to your point of a bit choreographed of what the public is seeing in the vacation and we expect to see that. and the white house says that the office of the presidency travels with mr. obama wherever he goes. >> thank you, kristen welker, traveling with the president. and the republican race for the president is down the three candidates. we it is compared to college basketball with bachmann and perry with the right to take the top seed from romney. but is romney up for the fight? 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align can help. only align has bifantis, a patented probiotic that naturally helps maintain your digestive balance. try align to help retain a balanced digestive system. try the #1 gastroenterologist recommended probiotic. align. welcome back to "newsnation" and now to decision 2012 where the republican race is shaping up to look more like the ncaa brackets you might say. and nbc's rich reed breaks it down. with the establishment of 12th seed michele bachmann and second seed rick perry squaring off against top-seeded mitt romney. and domenica montonado joins us to break it down. >> well, tamron, nothing i like to talk more about college basketball than politics. so if i can combine the two things, summer is not a great time for summer sports, but if i can put it together. there is the tea party bracket, and the republican establishment bracket. and you have romney to bye a time as michele bachmann and rick perry could face off against who could face mitt romney, and rick perry could play in both brackets, because he is trying to straddle the line. we saw the bernanke comment, and global warming and evolution and those things are not going to appeal to the establishment, but he did not double-down on the bernanke comment and delivered a moderate-sounding business senored the speech to business-friendly audience that was warmly received in new hampshire and had a more moderated tone while he was there and he is testing the waters on both sides of the aisle, but this is a big reason why though. we have still seen that the establishment is not totally thrilled with the candidates. mitt romney is someone who has been running since 2006 essentially, and really, you know, the, if they were really happy with him, then they would have already gone to him. but they haven't yet. now, perry, you know, they look at him and say, they are not sure if he is one of them yet and especially with the comments on the treasonous comment with bernanke, and that is why we hear about a lot of people, but look, a month just about, and if nobody else gets in the race and look there is not a white knight and nobody else gets in the race, they have to pick between perry and romney on the establishment side. >> when looking at the brackets you say that you are not expecting a white knight, but many people are hopeful for the party that paul ryan will jump into the race. even though he is emphatically said in the past the same kind of thing as chris christie, and when you look at the brackets, and again, the bracket, rather because you don't have the big one like college basketball, it is concerting that you would imagine when you have three faces to choose from at this point, and quite honestly as you have noted, each of them like any candidate quite honestly from either side of the aisle, they have their issues. >> oh, absolutely. when you think of president obama, you know, look bank of america laying off people, really not a good day in the stock market yesterday or been volatile over the last couple of months and slow growth and high unemployment and this is why the president is hugely vulnerable, but at the same time these other candidates have their flaws, and look, three candidates and we saw three with the democratic race in 2008 with hillary clinton and barack obama and john edwards who were the three out there and it looks like this field is starting to coalesce around these three. and look, the thing is that the white knights are probably not going to work and look at a somebody like fred thompson or wes clark, it did not work out so well. >> and thank you, domenico, i like the bracket you have going there. >> thank you. and now to talk more about the gop and the party divide is nationally syndicated talk show host michael smerconish, and msnbc contributor, and michael, i saw you last night on "hard ball with chris matthews" and you talked about the article that you were going to publish which is now out, and it is about the establishment that domenico was talking about with bachmann and perry against romney and you believe that bachmann and perry have a problem, and when you look at exclusively the state of pennsylvania and key counties there. >> right. and you might say, tamron, that is a narrow focus, but it is suburbia generally, and as go the suburbs by way of philadelphia so goes the state, and perhaps hence the nation. and the question is, who poses for the republicans the strongest opportunity against president obama in a general? that ben bernanke comment by governor perry is the red meat for the troop, the shock troops in a primary, i think will come back to bite you in the fannie when you are a general election candidate, and the issue for perry, for bachmann, is how far to go to fire up the base without alienating the independents in the fall, and what i come to the conclusion of is mitt romney and jon huntsman should he merge from the back of the pack stands the best chance if they can survive the primaries. >> and you ask how far perry and bachmann wants to go, but it is all of the way when it comes to the peatea party. and michele bachmann would dismantle the department of education, and rick perry the climate change and evolution and doub double-double on scoffing at science that proves that something that he is obviously does not believe at this point, and the man has said it, so it seems to me that the rhetoric and the courting of the tea party and the most conservative of the gop they are there. they are in it for the long haul. >> and there are constituencies for those views. but the people who subscribe to those views are already dead set on voting against president obama frankly and it matters not who the opponent is, but the question is, whenb you arct articulate views like that, are you turning off other segments of the electorate that you need and i would say you are. >> so does that leave an opening for jon huntsman coming out and saying, listen, that he does believe in evolution, and climate change. >> i think that it does. i was surprised and a bit disappointed that he was one of those who raised his hand in the debate in ames, iowa, and said he would reject a ten for one deal, because i would like to think he would exhibit more independence, and if he does, it will serve him well in the long term, but the republican party has a problem, because the person or candidate who best appeals to the base is not the most electable in a general election, and how they square that is going to be important. >> and important for their party moving forward not just for the upcoming presidential election. >> for sure. >> thank you, michael. have a good weekend. and decision 2012 is the topic for david gregory as he has campaign adviser robert gibbs. if it is sunday, it is "meet the press" on nbc. and coming up, the victims of an emotional massacre making a plea from the scene of the unimaginable tragedy. and the man ordered to more isolation and we will give you more details. and for the third time in six weeks the giant dust clouds keep coming up. this is incredible video we are getting and more details on "newsnation." time for the "your business e tren preneur of the week" michael and brad wanted to personalize the surfing experience so they started grain surfboards out of a farm in main. customers can buy a kit and design their own surfboard or take a course at the farm where mike and brad share their expertise and passion. for more, watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. host: do people use smartphones to do dumb things? man 1: send, that is the weekend. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don't mind if i doozy. man 3: is a gentleman with a brostache invited over to this party? man 1: only if he's ready to rock! ♪ sfx: guitar and trumpet jam vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. welcome back to "newsnation," and a month after the horrifying massacre in norway, some family members went to the scene where the massacre took place. and they went to the island where anders breivik admitted to killing more than 69 people in that rampage. and this is heartbreaking, because family members will be shown the site where this man confessed to it all. >> yes, tamron, it is an emotional day as you might imagine, and very difficult for the families with a first trip to the island since the massacre there, and they were greeted 500-strong by a representative of the police department as well as someone from the red cross in taking them to the exact spot where their loved one was found. many clutching flowers and candles and many drawn to the spot because they said they had to be there at the place where their loved one was last found alive. and many of them made the trip over on the ferry that breivik used on the day of the attacks, but they say, again, we have been through so much that does not matter at this point. tomorrow, survivors, and those who escaped the island will visit and one of them talked about the trip earlier today. >> i'm not spending time thinking about him. okay. mostly, i don't want to, because i don't think that he deserves my thoughts. i would rather that my friends who are not here today get my thought. >> so, clearly, they are not focusing on the man who has admitted to this horrible crime, andres breivik, and instead focusing on the ones they lost on than day. >> and again, he was in court today or a hearing today and what can you tell us? >> yes. yeah, and he told the judge that he deserves to be released from the isolation and he needs to meet other inmates and he needs access to sfwer net and tell -- internet and the media and the judge said absolutely not, because he could tamper evidence, and contact others and so they will keep him for four more weeks keep him in isolation in that prison. >> jay, thank you for that report from norway. and police say they have a new lead of a missing mother for nearly two years. and what is that lead? and president clinton opens up about his strict new healthy diet, and details ahead. and form a resilient layer called biofilm? biofilm germs are strong enough to survive daily brushing. thankfully, there's listerine® antiseptic. its triple-action formula goes deep to penetrate biofilm, kill germs and protect your mouth for up to 12 hours. aaaahhhh... 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